Enbridge Q3 2026 Earnings: Oil Pipelines Shrink, Gas Carries the Quarter

Enbridge Q3 2026 earnings, released on Friday, November 6, carried a clean headline. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.49 against $0.46 a year earlier, adjusted EBITDA was $4.4 billion against $4.3 billion, and the company reaffirmed full-year guidance for what it says would be the 21st consecutive year of meeting it. Figures are in Canadian dollars unless marked otherwise.

Underneath that headline, the mix has changed. Liquids Pipelines, still the largest of Enbridge’s five segments by adjusted EBITDA, produced $101 million less than in the same quarter last year and $414 million less over nine months. The two gas segments added $270 million between them and Renewable Power Generation $27 million, and after Liquids Pipelines and the corporate Eliminations and Other line took $130 million back off, the consolidated increase is $167 million.

In that same quarter Enbridge committed fresh capital to the side that shrank. It announced on August 26 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to buy Salt Creek Midstream’s crude oil gathering business in the Permian basin, and on September 9 the same for Tallgrass Energy’s crude oil business at US$2.55 billion in cash. It also sanctioned a $0.2 billion oil sands expansion in Alberta. On September 14 it closed a $3.0 billion common equity offering, raised in part to pay for the two acquisitions.

The headline numbers, and the GAAP line that moved for a non-operating reason

Measure	Q3 2026	Q3 2025	Nine months 2026	Nine months 2025
GAAP earnings to common ($M)	1,288	682	4,355	5,120
GAAP EPS	$0.59	$0.30	$2.00	$2.34
Adjusted earnings ($M)	1,074	997	4,586	4,657
Adjusted EPS	$0.49	$0.46	$2.10	$2.14
Adjusted EBITDA ($M)	4,434	4,267	15,020	14,739
Distributable cash flow ($M)	2,689	2,566	9,488	9,246
Cash from operating activities ($M)	2,703	2,868	9,156	9,159
Weighted average common shares (M)	2,192	2,181	2,186	2,180

Source: Enbridge’s third-quarter 2026 results release, Financial Results Summary.

Our arithmetic on those figures: adjusted EPS rose 6.5% in the quarter, adjusted EBITDA 3.9% and distributable cash flow 4.8%. Over nine months adjusted EPS is down 1.9%, adjusted EBITDA up 1.9% and cash from operating activities flat.

The GAAP line is the one that looks spectacular. Earnings attributable to common shareholders were $1,288 million against $682 million, and GAAP EPS $0.59 against $0.30. That is not an operating result, and the release says so: the increase of $0.6 billion or $0.29 per share was “primarily due to non-cash, unrealized changes in the value of derivative financial instruments used to manage foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity price risks, net of tax, in addition to the operating performance items discussed below.” Over nine months the GAAP measure runs the other way, $4,355 million against $5,120 million.

The release’s own EBITDA reconciliation explains that reversal. Unadjusted nine-month EBITDA was $14,274 million against $15,311 million, a fall of about $1.0 billion on our subtraction, while adjusted EBITDA rose $281 million. The difference is the adjusting items, positive $746 million this year against negative $572 million last, a swing of $1,318 million. One line carries it. The change in unrealized derivative fair value was a $496 million loss added back in 2026 against a $1,091 million gain taken out in 2025, $1,587 million of movement by itself, with last year’s $330 million of asset impairments and $139 million realized hedge loss pulling the other way. The quarter’s GAAP jump and the nine-month GAAP fall have the same cause pointing in opposite directions, and neither says anything about the pipelines.

Cash from operations fell while distributable cash flow rose

One row of that table runs against all the others. Cash provided by operating activities was $2,703 million in the quarter against $2,868 million, down 5.8% on our arithmetic, while distributable cash flow rose.

The release’s reconciliation between the two shows where the difference sits. The adjustment for changes in operating assets and liabilities was positive $276 million in the third quarter of 2026 against negative $102 million a year earlier. Working capital absorbed cash this year and released it last, and distributable cash flow is struck after that movement has been taken back out.

The release gives four reasons for the $123 million rise in quarterly distributable cash flow, and the only one besides adjusted EBITDA working in its favour is “lower maintenance capital spending due to enterprise-wide cost saving initiatives”. The Distributable Cash Flow table in the release’s Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results section sizes it: maintenance capital of $231 million in the quarter against $303 million, and $676 million against $848 million over nine months. That is a $72 million reduction inside a $123 million increase. Enbridge credits cost saving initiatives for the lower spend, which is a statement about spending. Whether the underlying requirement is any smaller is our question, not Enbridge’s claim. Working against it, in the same table, interest expense of $1,287 million against $1,247 million in the quarter and $3,817 million against $3,696 million over nine months, from incremental debt issuances.

So the same three months produce a reported profit that nearly doubles, an adjusted profit up 6.5% a share and an unadjusted cash measure down 5.8%. Our guide to how to read a company’s financials sets out what may be taken out of a reported profit to reach an adjusted one.

Gas carried the quarter and oil subtracted from it

Segment adjusted EBITDA ($M)	Q3 2026	Q3 2025	Q3 change	9M 2026	9M 2025	9M change
Liquids Pipelines	2,206	2,307	-101	6,850	7,264	-414
Gas Transmission	1,427	1,262	+165	4,366	4,085	+281
Gas Distribution and Storage	665	560	+105	3,252	3,000	+252
Renewable Power Generation	127	100	+27	460	461	-1
Eliminations and Other	9	38	-29	92	(71)	+163
Total adjusted EBITDA	4,434	4,267	+167	15,020	14,739	+281

Source: Enbridge’s third-quarter 2026 results release, segment adjusted EBITDA tables. The quarterly change column sums to the +167 Enbridge reports; the nine-month column is our arithmetic.

The nine-month gain of $281 million is the net of moves several times its size. The two gas segments added $533 million, Liquids Pipelines took $414 million away, Renewable Power Generation was down $1 million, and Eliminations and Other, which is not an operating business, restored $163 million.

Enbridge attributes the Liquids decline to lower Mainline volumes net of earnings sharing, lower Mainline tolls on Line 9 deliveries and lower contributions from Market Access due to underutilized contracts to the U.S. Gulf Coast, partly offset by translating U.S. dollar earnings at a higher average exchange rate.

It attributes the Gas Transmission increase to “increased revenues attributable to the East Tennessee rate case settlement, the Texas Eastern previously approved rate increase, and favorable Texas Eastern contracting; higher allowance for equity funds used during construction from increased spend on growth projects; and the favorable effect of translating U.S. dollar earnings at a higher average exchange rate in 2026, compared to the same period in 2025.”.

The Gas Distribution and Storage increase is attributed to “higher base rates for Enbridge Gas Utah and Enbridge Gas North Carolina due to recent rate cases; and higher distribution margin from higher rates and customer growth, net of earnings sharing, at Enbridge Gas Ontario.” The release also records that the weather impact on Enbridge Gas Ontario’s adjusted EBITDA, measured against the normal forecast embedded in rates, “was negligible in both the third quarter of 2026 and the third quarter of 2025”, which rules out the obvious alternative explanation.

The release breaks both gas segments into parts, which locates the growth. In Gas Distribution and Storage, the U.S. Gas Utilities added $57 million in the quarter, $315 million against $258 million, and $120 million over nine months, $1,428 million against $1,308 million. Enbridge Gas Ontario added $43 million and $107 million, and a third line, Other, $5 million and $25 million. Those three sum to the segment’s $105 million and $252 million. The American utilities, which the release footnote names as Enbridge Gas Ohio, Enbridge Gas Utah and Enbridge Gas North Carolina, grew more than Ontario on both measures and off a smaller base, matching an attribution in which both named rate cases are American.

In Gas Transmission, U.S. Gas Transmission added $94 million in the quarter and $176 million over nine months, and Canadian Gas Transmission $28 million and $76 million. The remaining $43 million of the quarter’s $165 million, about a quarter of the gain, sits in the segment’s Other line at $113 million against $70 million, which the release footnotes as “Tomorrow RNG, Gulf Offshore assets, our investment in DCP Midstream, and others”. That line added $29 million of the nine-month $281 million. Those sub-segment changes and their sums are our arithmetic.

The composition of the quarter follows from Enbridge’s own lists. The gas gains rest on settled and approved rates, contracting, customer growth in Ontario and a construction-period accounting credit earned on money spent on projects not yet in service. Volume growth appears nowhere in the Gas Transmission list. The oil decline is volumes and tolls, and Renewable Power Generation’s $27 million is the first phase of Sequoia Solar, in service since December 2025. For the other large Canadian names in the sector, our ranked list of Canadian energy stocks is the place to look.

The next rate outcome is already on file. During the quarter Enbridge Gas Ohio filed a stipulation in its pending proceeding before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio which, “if approved, would provide an annual revenue requirement increase of approximately US$145 million, an equity thickness of 52.87%, and an allowed return on equity of 9.59%”. A decision is “expected in or before the first quarter of 2027, with new rates expected to become effective on March 1, 2027”. Ohio is the one of the three American utilities Enbridge does not credit for this quarter’s distribution growth.

That construction credit does not arrive as cash, and Enbridge says so itself. It appears in the release’s explanation of the distributable cash flow increase as an item working against it, “higher non-cash allowance for equity during construction on regulated Gas Transmission projects under construction”.

Currency helped Liquids Pipelines and Gas Transmission. The favourable effect of translating U.S. dollar earnings at a higher average exchange rate appears in Enbridge’s attribution for each of those two segments and not in the one for Gas Distribution and Storage. The rate was C$1.40 per US$1.00 in the quarter against C$1.38 a year earlier, a two-cent step that on our reading makes translation a modest contributor rather than a driver, and the release adds that “a significant portion of U.S. dollar earnings are hedged under the Company’s enterprise-wide financial risk management program.”

Eliminations and Other carries centrally delivered services and settlements under Enbridge’s enterprise foreign exchange hedging program. Its nine-month swing came as realized hedge settlement losses fell to $165 million from $385 million, offset in part by operating and administrative recoveries falling to $257 million from $314 million. In the quarter the line went the other way, down $29 million on “higher realized foreign exchange losses on hedge settlements in 2026”, $86 million against $51 million.

Enbridge oil pipelines shrank while its gas businesses grew. Change in adjusted EBITDA by segment, Q3 2026 against Q3 2025, in millions of Canadian dollars. Source: Enbridge Q3 2026 results release, segment adjusted EBITDA tables.

Inside Liquids Pipelines, the decline sits in Mainline and the Gulf Coast

Liquids sub-segment adjusted EBITDA ($M)	Q3 2026	Q3 2025	9M 2026	9M 2025
Mainline and Market Access Systems	1,439	1,525	4,455	4,685
Regional Oil Sands and Express-Platte Systems	350	358	1,091	1,083
Gulf Coast and Other Systems	417	424	1,304	1,496
Total	2,206	2,307	6,850	7,264

Source: Enbridge’s third-quarter 2026 results release, Liquids Pipelines table.

One caveat belongs with this table. The release states that “effective January 1, 2026, to better align with our operational structure, Enbridge reorganized the reporting sub-segments of Liquids Pipelines” and that “prior year comparatives have also been restated to reflect the reporting change”. The 2025 figures above are those restated comparatives, not the numbers Enbridge originally published.

Our arithmetic on the nine-month columns: Mainline and Market Access Systems is down 4.9%, Gulf Coast and Other Systems down 12.8%, and Regional Oil Sands and Express-Platte Systems up 0.7%. Two of the three fell, and the one that held is the smallest.

Liquids Pipelines adjusted EBITDA by sub-segment, nine months, 2025 against 2026, in millions of Canadian dollars. The 2025 figures are Enbridge’s restated comparatives following its January 1, 2026 sub-segment reorganization. Source: Enbridge Q3 2026 results release.

What Enbridge committed to, and how the bill gets paid

Four of the quarter’s announcements commit capital. Two others fund it.

The commitments:

• Tallgrass Energy’s crude oil business, US$2.55 billion in cash, announced September 9, which Enbridge says extends Liquids Pipelines into a “competitive Rockies-to-Cushing platform” and includes the US$0.3 billion Pony Express 2 growth project. Subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
• Salt Creek Midstream’s crude oil gathering business in the Permian basin, US$0.6 billion, announced August 26 and “closed effective October 9th”, after the quarter ended.
• Substantially all the assets of Laramie Energy, at US$485 million plus up to US$65 million in contingent payments, providing cost-of-service gas supply for Enbridge Gas Utah. Closing is expected in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.
• The sanctioned Long Lake Expansion, expected to cost $0.2 billion and enter service in 2028: a new lateral pipeline and storage tank, with expanded capacity on the Waupisoo (Line 18) and Wood Buffalo Extension (Line 45) pipelines, serving CNOOC Petroleum North America’s Long Lake oil sands asset in Alberta.

The funding:

• A $3.0 billion, 44.7 million common share bought deal closed September 14, “inclusive of the fully exercised 15% underwriters’ over-allotment”, completed “to partially fund the Tallgrass and Salt Creek Midstream acquisitions and to enhance financial flexibility to fund potential future growth opportunities”.
• An investment by KKR and Apollo in the Westcoast system, approximately $0.7 billion contributed at closing “to fund capital spend to date on the Aspen Point and Sunrise expansion programs”, and approximately $2.0 billion more committed “to fund future capital expenditures related to the expansion programs”, for a minority interest that reaches 29% when Sunrise enters service in 2028. That money is earmarked for those programs and is not available for the acquisitions above.

Behind that, the secured growth backlog sits at approximately $38 billion, financed from what Enbridge puts at $10 to $11 billion of annual growth capital investment capacity. Over $3 billion of completed projects entered service in the quarter, including Tennessee Ridgeline and the Aspen Point expansion of B.C. Pipeline.

The equity offering was 44.7 million new shares against a weighted average count of 2,192 million in the quarter, up from 2,181 million. Our arithmetic on the dates: outstanding for 17 of the quarter’s 92 days, they account for roughly 8 million of the 11 million rise in the average. At about 2% of the count, most of the dilution arrives once they sit in the average for a full quarter.

On leverage, the release states: “The Company’s rolling 12-month Debt-to-EBITDA metric at the end of the third quarter of 2026 was 5.1x, slightly above the target range due to the period end debt balance translating at a 1.42 CAD/USD foreign exchange rate compared to EBITDA translating at an average trailing 12-month rate of 1.39.” The range it sits above, per Enbridge’s Q3 2026 earnings presentation, is “target leverage of 4.5x to 5.0x”.

That 5.1x is measured at September 30, and most of the purchase price has not moved yet. Salt Creek’s US$0.6 billion went out on the October 9 closing. Tallgrass at US$2.55 billion and Laramie at US$485 million before contingent payments, roughly US$3.0 billion between them on our arithmetic, are still to come: the release puts Laramie’s closing in the fourth quarter, and the presentation gives management’s expectation on Tallgrass, “Expecting a Q4 2026 close; subject to regulatory approval”.

Assemble those pieces and this is what a yield-focused holder is looking at into next year. Interest expense in the distributable cash flow reconciliation is already $40 million higher in the quarter and $121 million higher over nine months on our arithmetic. Leverage is above the target range. Roughly US$3.0 billion of purchase price is still to be paid. The new shares have yet to sit in the weighted average for a full quarter. Two of those subtract from distributable cash flow per share by construction, interest expense coming off the top of the reconciliation and the share count sitting in its denominator. Enbridge reaffirmed its guidance with these results regardless.

The capital is crude, and so is the segment that fell

Greg Ebel’s framing of the purchases is “three accretive tuck-in acquisitions”. Two of those three are crude oil businesses, and with Long Lake sanctioned beside them, three of the four commitments above are crude. All of it was decided in the quarter the crude segment’s earnings fell.

Both sides of that are in Enbridge’s own words. The decline is “lower Mainline volumes, net of earnings sharing and lower Mainline tolls on Line 9 deliveries” and “lower contributions from Market Access due to underutilized contracts to the U.S. Gulf Coast”. What is being added is contracted. Pony Express is a “460 kbpd highly contracted crude oil system” with “connectivity into the Cushing, OK demand hub”, its PXP2 expansion is “underpinned by take-or-pay contracts”, the Salt Creek systems are “underpinned by long-term commercial agreements with average remaining contract lives of approximately 10 years”, and the Long Lake Expansion is “supported by long-term take-or-pay agreements”.

So the shortfall and the spending are in different places. What fell is volumes, tolls and contract utilization on systems Enbridge already owns. What it is adding earns under contract, and in the take-or-pay cases does not depend on throughput at all. Whether that answers the decline or routes around it is the fair question to put to this quarter.

Reaffirmed guidance, measured against the nine months so far

Full-year guidance, reaffirmed with these results, is adjusted EBITDA of $20.2 to $20.8 billion and distributable cash flow per share of $5.70 to $6.10. The medium-term outlook is reaffirmed too, at approximately 5% average compound annual growth in adjusted EBITDA, DCF per share and earnings per share.

The nine months run below that medium-term rate. DCF per share is up 2.3% on our arithmetic, being $9,488 million over 2,186 million shares against $9,246 million over 2,180 million, or $4.3404 against $4.2413. The quarter on its own was stronger, with DCF per share of $1.23 against $1.18.

Enbridge’s own position on the full year, from its earnings presentation, is that it is “Positioned to deliver full-year results at the midpoint of 2026 financial guidance”, which the deck prints as $20.5 billion of adjusted EBITDA and $5.90 of DCF per share, the arithmetic midpoints of the reaffirmed ranges.

The aggregate side of that can be tested against the nine months. Our arithmetic: full-year adjusted EBITDA of $20.2 to $20.8 billion, less the $15,020 million already booked, implies a fourth quarter of $5,180 million to $5,780 million, against $4,434 million in the third. The fourth quarter is the one the utilities’ seasonal shape favours. The release says adjusted EBITDA for Enbridge Gas Ontario, Enbridge Gas Utah and Enbridge Gas North Carolina “typically follows a seasonal profile” and that “EBITDA is generally highest in the first and fourth quarters of the year”.

The dividend has risen by exactly eleven cents a year

On November 3, 2026 the board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9700 per common share, payable December 1 to holders of record on November 13. Four quarters at that rate make an annual $3.88 for 2026.

Enbridge’s own dividend history records annual common dividends of $3.4400 for 2022, then $3.5500, $3.6600, $3.7700 and $3.8800 for 2026. The raise has been exactly $0.11 a share in each of the last four years, so the percentage increase falls every year, 3.20%, then 3.10%, 3.01% and 2.92%, because the base keeps rising while the eleven cents does not.

Annual common dividend per share, 2022 to 2026, with the size of each annual increase underneath. Source: Enbridge dividend history sheet, which prints 2025 as 2025e, and the four 2026 quarterly dividends of $0.9700. The increases are our arithmetic.

Enbridge’s own affordability test, in the earnings presentation, is a “Distributable Cash Flow (DCF) payout range of 60-70%”, and the full year is the measure that answers it. Our arithmetic on the reaffirmed guidance of $5.70 to $6.10: the $3.88 annual dividend is 68.1% of the low end, 65.8% of the $5.90 midpoint and 63.6% of the top. Every point of that guidance range leaves the dividend inside the payout range. The nine months on their own run tighter than that midpoint, at 67%, being $4.34 of DCF per share against three declared quarterly dividends of $0.97.

The raise invites a comparison with the cash flow behind it, and the policy names which cash flow. The declared annual dividend rose 2.92% on 2025. The ceiling the presentation sets, in the words “Dividend per share growth up to medium-term cash flow growth”, is the medium-term rate, which this release reaffirms at approximately 5%. Against the ceiling as Enbridge defines it, a 2.92% raise sits comfortably inside. DCF per share over the nine months rose 2.3%, below the raise, but three quarters is an observation rather than the medium term the policy refers to.

At the November 5 close Enbridge traded at C$67.33, which makes the $3.88 annual dividend a 5.76% yield, on figures from StockAnalysis. That price sits in the lower half of a 52-week range of C$62.42 to C$80.65, and the 24 analysts StockAnalysis tracks hold a consensus of Buy with an average price target of C$78.25. It is also close to where the September bought deal was struck: $3.0 billion for 44.7 million shares is about $67 a share on our arithmetic of those rounded figures. The payout ratio is the other half of what a yield that size is worth, and our list of high-yield Canadian dividend stocks is where to compare it with the other large Canadian payers.

A new chief executive takes over on January 1

Greg Ebel says in this release that he is getting “set to retire in January”, and Enbridge’s Q3 2026 earnings presentation names Michele Harradence as incoming President and CEO effective January 1, 2027. Of her, Ebel says she “has a deep understanding of our strategy, business, and industry”.

What the quarter leaves a shareholder holding

Adjusted EBITDA, distributable cash flow and adjusted earnings per share all moved up in the three months, the dividend was raised again by its customary eleven cents, the payout sits inside the company’s stated range on both the nine months and full-year guidance, and guidance was reaffirmed.

What changed is where the money comes from and where it is going. The growth is in regulated gas rates, with the next US$145 million of Ohio revenue requirement awaiting a commission decision, while the capital is going into crude. The equity to help pay for that is already issued, the largest payments have not left, leverage is above target in the meantime, and the executive who will run the approximately $38 billion backlog takes over in January.

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Disclaimer: The content on bestcanadianstocks.ca is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Company figures are from Enbridge Inc.’s third quarter 2026 results release of November 6, 2026, which is an HTML document with no page numbers and is cited by section, together with its Q3 2026 earnings presentation and its own dividend history. The presentation is used for management statements only: the 4.5x to 5.0x leverage target, the 60 to 70 per cent distributable cash flow payout range, the dividend policy of per share growth up to medium-term cash flow growth, the statement that the company is positioned to deliver full-year results at the midpoint of 2026 financial guidance, the expected fourth quarter closing of the Tallgrass acquisition and the January 1, 2027 effective date of the incoming chief executive. No reported financial result is taken from the presentation. The 2025 Liquids Pipelines sub-segment figures are Enbridge’s own restated comparatives following its January 1, 2026 sub-segment reorganization. Growth rates, per share cash flow figures, the payout ratio, the implied fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA range and the share count arithmetic are ours, computed from the release’s figures and its own weighted average share counts, and are labelled as ours in the body. Share price and dividend yield are from StockAnalysis, credited in plain text.